JAMES HUTTON: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE - GEOGRAFÍA - 2024

James Hutton (1726 - 1797) was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemist, naturalist, and experimental farmer. He is known as the "father of geology", for being the first to establish the study of it as a science.

In his Theory of the Earth (1788), Hutton develops the idea of ​​plutonism. Here it is stated that thanks to the action of the temperature of the center of the earth, the crust of the earth is formed. ^one

Henry Raeburn, via Wikimedia Commons

In addition, he explained that the interaction that heat and water had with the sediments that make up the terrestrial strata was cyclical. Consequently he was the first to think that the earth was millions of years old. ^two

Hutton defended the idea of ​​uniformism. Through this current, he states that the principles of the composition of the earth are the same for all the continents of the planet.

Another of his great contributions to science is his Theory of Rain (1788). In it it is stated that rain is produced by the distillation of water that had been dissolved in the atmosphere and then condensed in the cloud from the state of vapor. ³

Biography

Early years

James Hutton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 3, 1726. He was the son of Sarah Balfour and William Hutton, a merchant and Treasurer of the city of Edinburgh. ⁴

When his father died, Hutton was still a child. However, the young man was home-schooled for several years by his mother. He then attended Edinburgh High School and in 1740 entered the University of Edinburgh as a Humanities student. ⁵

At the age of 17 Hutton decided to apprentice to a lawyer named George Chalmers. This did not last long, as Hutton's inclination towards chemistry prompted him to re-enroll at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine.

In 1947 he moved to Paris, where he studied chemistry and anatomy for two years. Hutton received his medical degree in Holland in 1749.

Country life and career

From the experiments Hutton conducted with fellow student John Davie, a profitable partnership emerged. The business they both started was responsible for extracting ammonia salts from coal soot. ⁶

As part of his inheritance, Hutton received two farms in Berwickshire. In 1754 he decided to dedicate himself to them, and he did so for almost 14 years. This contact with agriculture and animal husbandry sparked two great passions in Hutton: meteorology and the study of soils.

So in 1768 he decided to take up residence in Edinburgh and pursue scientific work. ⁷

Hutton had a relationship with the scientists of the Irish Enlightenment, especially through the Philosophical Society. This circle was replaced by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which Hutton was one of the founders. ⁸

Final years and death

From 1791 Hutton suffered from severe pain caused by kidney stones. From then on, he put fieldwork aside and dedicated himself to finishing his bibliographical work.

James Hutton died on March 26, 1797, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Hutton did not marry, however he had a child in his youth with a woman named Edington. The boy named James Smeaton Hutton was born around the year 1747 and became an employee of the London Post Office.

Although Hutton took care of his son's expenses, he did not maintain a close relationship with the young man. ⁹

Contributions to science

Uniformity and geology

In his work Theory of the Earth, Hutton explains, through uniformitarianism, that "the present is the key to the past." He thought that geological processes could be explained with other observable processes.

So planet earth must have functioned smoothly for immensely long periods of time. In these approaches are the foundations of modern geology as an independent science.

Hutton states that the terrestrial strata originate from the seabed. ¹⁰ So currents and water are factors that are responsible for generating the surface on which human life develops, but they must do so with the help of heat.

The rocky center of the earth, according to Hutton, was a powerful source of heat. This, when interacting with loose material, produces rocks, in turn necessary for the formation of the strata. ^eleven

Then, the normal sea layers in interaction with heat, Hutton claimed, was what caused the continental masses to emerge from the depths of the sea by breaking and moving. ¹²

Hutton presumes that on all continental masses the composition of the earth is the same. For this reason, he stated that by studying the types of soil present in Europe, it would be possible to know those of the rest of the world. ¹³

Deep time

It states that the earth has been in a process of continuous formation for millions of years. Also known as geological time or deep time, it was a concept coined by Hutton.

For the Scottish scientist, the process of new stratum formation in the depths of the ocean and erosion on the surface was an infinite cycle. Hutton could not say when this process began and assumed it would never end. ¹⁴

At present the age of the earth has been established at approximately 4.54 billion years. ^fifteen

The theory of "Deep Time" was not accepted willingly by the society of the time, since it put aside the biblical explanations.

Meteorology

In Theory of Rain (1788) Hutton proposes a model of the water cycle. This model had the particularity of clearly explaining the process of evaporation and condensation.

In this process, Hutton explains what happens in the different hemispheres to produce different seasons. This will depend on the location of the area in relation to the equator and the amount of heat that exists in the environment. ¹⁶

He assures that the exceptions had to be studied to find an explanation that adapted to the fundamentals of the rain cycle.

References

1. Well, M. (2007). The Little Larousse Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary 2007. 13th ed. Bogotá (Colombia): Printer Colombiana, p.1400.
2. Digital.nls.uk. (2018). James Hutton biography - Science Hall of Fame - National Library of Scotland. Available at: digital.nls.uk.
3. Hutton, J. (1788). II. The Theory of Rain. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1 (2), 41-86.
4. Waterston, C. and Shearer, A. (2006). Former fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
5. Dean, D. (1992). James Hutton and the history of geology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 1-5.
6. Dean, D. (1992). James Hutton and the history of geology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 1-5.
7. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2018). James Hutton - Scottish geologist. Available at: britannica.com.
8. Dean, D. (1992). James Hutton and the history of geology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, p. 1-5
9. En.wikipedia.org. (2018). James Hutton. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
10. Hutton, J. (1795). Theory of the Earth. Edinburgh: William Creech, p. 26.
11. Hutton, J. (1795). Theory of the Earth. Edinburgh: William Creech, p. 3. 4.
12. Hutton, J. (1795). Theory of the Earth. Edinburgh: William Creech, p. 267.
13. Hutton, J. (1795). Theory of the Earth. Edinburgh: William Creech, p. 284.
14. En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Deep time. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
15. Dalrymple, G. Brent (2001). The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved. Special Publications, Geological Society of London 190: 205–221.
16. Hutton, J. (1788). II. The Theory of Rain. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1 (2), 41-86.